In September a few private Nepalese lawyers appealed to the high court in Nepal against the Nepalese Government in respect to the Cabinets’ decision that allows for Surrogacy to take place in Nepal. Gal Sava, ‘Viva Family’ Founder & CEO, sheds light about the situation in Nepal, tells us what to expect and reveals what are relevant destinations in the case that Nepal bans surrogacy. What happened in Nepal? An appeal has been made against the fact that surrogacy takes place and is not instituted in the law (although there is no law prohibiting it). The court of Justice asked the State of Nepal to address questions such as – what are the rights of the surrogate mother, what are the child’s rights etc. As a result, the Health Services provided its response. Based on the reply, the court in Nepal needs to decide whether it allows to carry out surrogacy or to freeze the process until a procedure is constituted. At the moment it is not clear when and if this matter will be settled, and even if it is settled, it seems that singles and same sex couples won’t be able to go through the surrogacy process in Nepal. There are a few possible scenarios: Optimistic scenario – the position of the state will be accepted and surrogacy will become legal and constituted in the law. Pessimistic scenario – the position of the state will be reject

As many of you already know, in the past few weeks it has not been clear whether Nepal will continue to be a destination where surrogacy can take place or not. At the moment, although no final decision has been announced, it seems that Nepal will be banned as a destination where singles or same sex couples will be able to carry out surrogacy process. This is unfortunate as it was most likely a preferred destination for many couples going through surrogacy.